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EF1 tornado in Hamilton County, Indiana

Tornado April 2, 2025 · Hamilton County, Indiana

EF1
Rating
6.6 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$600K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This fifth tornado to impact central Indiana tracked to the east-northeast through mainly southeastern portions of the Carmel area, from near 116th Street and Pennsylvania Street to 146th Street and Community Drive. Trees to the south of an office building were uprooted and downed in a convergent manner toward the building. Damage to the office building was confined to the southwest corner and the entry way on the east side of the structure. Metal framing around windows on the southwest corner were pulled outward as was the large entry way frame and windows. The tornado continued to the northeast with numerous homes and apartment buildings sustaining roof and siding damage. Many trees were also uprooted or snapped along the path in a clearly convergent manner in areas where trees came down in groups. Damage was not consistent along the track, with breaks of up to one-third mile where very little if any damage occurred. Damage from the tornado ended about 800 feet south-southeast of the intersection of East 146th Street and Community Drive. Peak wind gusts were 105 mph.

The wider storm

A strong low pressure system generated a line of strong to severe thunderstorms that started in Illinois and moved across central Indiana. Multiple severe storms were embedded within the line and some of these produced tornadoes. Eleven tornadoes impacted central Indiana, ten of which occurred along an overall west-southwest to east-northeast area from north of Terre Haute to north of Muncie. Four of these events, from Hendricks County to Delaware County, were secondary tornadoes that tracked parallel to longer duration tornadoes. Three tornadoes combined to impact western and northern portions of the Indianapolis Metro area, including an EF2 in Hendricks County that caused the episode's only injury. In addition to the tornadoes widespread wind damage occurred with gusts over 80+ mph reported.

Began near Home Place (39.9558, -86.1542).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

9 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1248890. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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